God Eater is improving. Its visual effects are growing richer. Gameplay is appearing where there was no gameplay before.

Namco Bandai recently announced some of the final updates that are being made to the game as its February 4 release approaches. These updates come in response to player feedback of the game's recent demo.

That demo has, as of the 17th, been downloaded 1.3 million times, up from the 1 million reported earlier in the month, so the development staff apparently has a good amount of material to work with.

The biggest update is in the game's action component. The staff is hoping to increase the feeling of "speed" and "weight" in the gameplay with the following four changes:

Addition of hit stop for some attacks (I'm not sure what a "hit stop" is -- if you know, please share with us in the comment section).

Fixing of hit effects

Fixing of sound effects for hits and when you suck up, or eat, the Aragami

Addition of camera shake when you connect during a critical

Stamina is no longer depleted when you perform standard attacks

Stamina recovers as you fall from jumps, attack long distance, and use recovery items

Adjustments to stamina depletion from other actions in order to match the above stamina changes

Other gameplay changes include the following:

Can obtain multiple materials by eating a fallen Aragami once

You can guard, jump and evade when rising

During a burst, by eating an Aragami, you can increase your burst time

Namco Bandai also provided a glimpse at the game's pre-order bonus. Pre-orderes will get a download code for a mission that puts you up against an Aragami called "Susano."

As previously announced, the pre-order bonus ties into the demo. In the demo, you can collect an item called Kudakareshi Jinki (砕かれし神機). By defeating Susano in the pre-order mission, you can obtain a special material which, when combined with six of the demo items, lets you create the legendary Susano Equipment, shown here:

It shouldn't come as a surprise given the whole Monster Hunter selling three million copies thing, but Namco Bandai is planning additional post-release missions for God Eater. A variety of missions will be on offer, some free. Specifics will be shared in a subsequent update.